clairedavieswriter

As I’ve said (do pay attention, 007), the most common end-to-end route through Portugal just follows the N2 all the way, between Faro and Chaves. But Chaves is not the most northerly point of the country, as you can clearly see (below right), and I’m nothing if not a stickler for such details. Which is why today, in the small town of Louredo, we parted company with the N2, having followed it virtually every one of the 484.5 km we’ve pedalled so far in Portugal. From here on, we’ll take a route of my own and Guillaume’s devising to Cevide (below left), which conveniently takes us through Coimbra and Oporto, amongst other fine stopovers

Meanwhile, Góis, where we stayed last night, in this lovely guest house:

… was a pleasant surprise. Nestled deep in the heavily wooded valley of the river Ceira, it’s a popular hub for all kinds of outdoor activities and, implausibly, given how quiet it seems, plays host a motorbike festival that attracts tens of thousands of riders every year. According to our host last night, the event is generally welcomed by the locals, on the basis that the bikers ‘will pay anything’ for accommodation, so they set their prices accordingly. The downside is that, despite a heavy police presence, there’s usually some kind of ruckus. Last year, a police car was tipped into the river. What larks!

Having endured almost hypothermia-inducing conditions on our descent to Góis yesterday afternoon, we were pleased to see sunshine today on our way out

The blue skies didn’t last but it didn’t rain and the scenery was just glorious

Even if some climbing was required to achieve the best views…

Today’s entertaining sights included the villages of Snail:

And (I’d really love to know the derivation of this one) Sea Eye:

And the traditional trade memorialised this time (if we’ve translated Cabouqueiro correctly ) was the quarryman

I love these old fashioned bus stop signs

And we were literally dazzled by this stretch of cycle path on the way into Vila do Poiares

But by far the highlight of our day was the almost 20k we spent mostly freewheeling down the valley of the river Mondego, from ‘N2’ to Coimbra on the map below:

Whose serpentine course revealed sudden glimpses of villages perched high on its forested flanks

The hills were so steep we wondered why or how people had ever chosen to build there

And it was a relief not to have to climb them. But even on an easy day, a cyclist still needs fuel

We reached Portugal’s former capital, the university city of Coimbra, in time for lunch. In lieu of a photo of my sandes do queijo, here’s one of the excellent mushroom risotto we had for dinner.

Our touristic explorations were curtailed by heavy rain, but we did see the aqueduct on the way to our guest house.

Otherwise, the city’s main features, as far as we could tell from a cycling point of view, are that it is viciously hilly and mostly cobbled. Reader, I confess that for both reasons, we had to get off and push.